The Tsurugi of Muramasa
| ) The Tsurugi of Muramasa (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Base item | tsurugi |
| Damage vs. small | 1d16 +1d8 (2-24) |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8+2d6 +1d8 (4-28) |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Bonus versus | (any) |
| Weapon skill | two-handed sword |
| Size | two-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
|
| When wielded | |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 4500 zm |
| Weight | 60 |
| Material | metal |
The Tsurugi of Muramasa is the Samurai quest artifact. It is the prize for completing the Samurai quest, and its default alignment is lawful. Its base item type is a tsurugi.
Contents
Generation
For Samurai, The Tsurugi of Muramasa is always generated on the goal level of the Samurai quest, where the blessed +0 artifact is placed on Ashikaga Takauji's square during level creation.[1] If a Samurai loads a bones level containing the quest artifact, it will always be reverted to its base item.
Description
While carried, The Tsurugi of Muramasa acts as a luckstone, and while wielded, it also provides extrinsic protection by augmenting the hero's magic cancellation as with a ring of protection (but not cumulative with one).[2][3][4] As a weapon, The Tsurugi of Muramasa deals +d8 bonus damage against all monsters, and it has a 1⁄20} chance (5%) of bisection:[5] this instantly kills any medium-size or smaller monster (including the hero), as well as any monster engulfing the wielder regardless of their size, while monsters that are large or bigger instead take double damage.
Unlike most other quest artifacts, The Tsurugi of Muramasa has no effect when invoked.
Strategy
The chance of bisection by The Tsurugi of Muramasa makes it very dangerous for Samurai to face their quest nemesis Ashikaga Takauji in melee while he is wielding it: players may employ high-damage ranged attacks, controlled polymorph, a boulder fort, or a wand of death among other options to liberate the artifact from him while minimizing the odds of instant death.
As a two-handed weapon, if the Tsurugi becomes cursed, you will need to #tip an uncursing item out of your bag to regain use of your hands. However, as an intelligent artifact it resists the curse items monster spell 80% of the time, making it much safer than most other two-handed weapons. Beyond that, the Tsurugi's extra Luck and protection renders it barely noteworthy among lawful artifacts for non-Samurai, if not artifacts in general.
Unfortunately for Samurai themselves, that it uses the two-handed sword skill may prove a deterrent for those looking to perform two weapon combat or (much more rarely) use a shield. While they can attain Expert level in the two-handed sword skill, most samurai may already be comfortable with the easier-obtained Excalibur or Snickersnee as their main weapon and their starting katana or another long sword as their off-hand weapon. In addition to dealing roughly similar damage outside of The Tsurugi of Muramasa's bisection, there is a much less significant risk of effects such as the curse items monster spell welding both weapons to your hands simultaneously—this applies even when accounting for the Tsurugi's own curse resistance and the ability to #tip containers that a hero with no free hands cannot open otherwise.
Average damage calculation
The base damage range of the Tsurugi of Muramasa is 2–24 against small monsters, and 4–28 against large monsters before doubling damage. The average damage calculations in the following table do not include bonuses from weapon skills, strength, or from using a blessed weapon against undead or major demons. Also, they do not include the 5% chance of either instantly killing the target (if it is a small monster) or doing double the damage (if it is a large monster). Furthermore, the twoweapon skill bonuses are not included for the damage calculations when using Excalibur with a katana.
| Weapon | Small monsters | Large monsters |
|---|---|---|
| +0 Tsurugi of Muramasa | 1+162 + 1+82 = 13 | 1+82 + 2+122 + 1+82 = 16 |
| +7 Tsurugi of Muramasa | 1+162 + 1+82 + 7 = 20 | 1+82 + 2+122 + 1+82 + 7 = 23 |
| +0 Excalibur and +0 Katana | 1+82 + 1+102 + 1+102 = 15.5 | 1+122 + 1+102 + 1+122 = 18.5 |
| +7 Excalibur and +7 Katana | 1+82 + 1+102 + 7 + 1+102 + 7 = 29.5 | 1+122 + 1+102 + 7 + 1+122 + 7 = 32.5 |
| +9 Excalibur and +7 Katana | 1+82 + 1+102 + 9 + 1+102 + 7 = 31.5 | 1+122 + 1+102 + 9 + 1+122 + 7 = 34.5 |
History
The Tsurugi of Muramasa is introduced along with most of the other quest artifacts in NetHack 3.1.0.
The Tsurugi of Muramasa providing extrinsic protection while wielded is added in NetHack 3.6.0 via commit 33d9b713 and commit 5bd6ba0d.
Origin
Muramasa Sengo (千子 村正) was a famous Japanese swordsmith who founded the Muramasa school and lived during the Muromachi period (14th to 16th centuries) in Kuwana of Ise Province. They were originally reputed as fine blades favored by the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu and his vassals, but gradually became a symbol of the anti-Tokugawa movement.
The idea of Muramasa's swords being bloodthirsty and compelling the wielders to murder or suicide is a product of both the aforementioned political shift and of 18th century Japanese lore and popular culture, such as kabuki dramas —this is also likely the source for the idea that Muramasa passed his own violence and bloodlust on to the blades he forged.
Variants
Some NetHack variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 may not give the Tsurugi of Muramasa the ability to provide extrinsic protection, while other variants in general may grant additional abilities and/or make further changes to improve the artifact's performance.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the Tsurugi of Muramasa deals +8 damage to all monsters with a 1⁄10 chance (10%) of bisection or doubled damage depending on the target's size, and does not provide protection or magic cancellation.
Despite its improvements from NetHack 3.4.3, the ability in SLASH'EM to dual-wield artifact weapons diminishes the Tsurugi's appeal even further: combining Excalibur and Snickersnee is excellent for Samurai, since both weapons are easily available to them, use the same weapon skill, and both have a flat damage bonus against all monsters that allows far more damage on average than the Tsurugi. A Samurai who can get his hands on one of the better artifact swords, such as Fire Brand, Frost Brand, Grayswandir, or the Sword of Justice can be even more powerful. Additionally, SLASH'EM lacks the #tip extended command, making it more serious if a two-handed weapon is cursed.
The following table summarizes the best-case scenario average damage for the Tsurugi of Muramasa versus two-weaponing the most powerful one-handed lawful swords. The following table does not include applicable strength or ring-based damage bonuses.
| Weapon(s) | Average damage vs. small | Average damage vs. large |
|---|---|---|
| Tsurugi of Muramasa | 28 + 10% instakill | 33 |
| Snickersnee + Excalibur | 49 | 52 |
| Snickersnee + Sword of Justice | 51 | 54 |
| Snickersnee + Fire Brand or Frost Brand | 51 | 56 |
| Snickersnee + Grayswandir | 61 | 62 |
| Excalibur + Sword of Justice | 52 | 56 |
| Excalibur + Fire Brand or Frost Brand | 52 | 58 |
| Excalibur + Grayswandir | 62 | 64 |
| Sword of Justice + Fire Brand or Frost Brand | 54 | 60 |
| Sword of Justice + Grayswandir | 64 | 66 |
| Fire Brand + Frost Brand | 53 | 61 |
| Fire Brand or Frost Brand + Grayswandir | 64 | 68 |
The best case for all listed weapons assumes that a Samurai has reached Expert in the relevant skill, is attacking an undead monster or demon with a blessed weapon, and the weapon(s) are enchanted to +7. The following additional restrictions are applied to the targets for each weapon in this table:
- Sword of Justice: not lawful-aligned
- Fire Brand: not fire resistant
- Frost Brand: not cold resistant
- Grayswandir: silver-hating (as only demons are both silver-hating and suffer blessed damage)
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, The Tsurugi of Muramasa grants half physical damage while carried and augments protection while wielded.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, The Tsurugi of Muramasa is significantly changed from its appearance in NetHack.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, the Tsurugi of Muramasa does double damage rather than +1d8, and can be invoked to uncurse itself.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the Tsurugi of Muramasa has +1d3 to-hit and grants half physical damage while wielded in addition to its other traits.
If The Tsurugi of Muramasa is successfully wished for by a non-Samurai hero, there is a 1⁄x chance (where x is the amount of previous artifact wishes) of it being created successfully—if successful, Lord Sato will generate as the hostile owner of the artifact, placed adjacent to the hero with the artifact in his possession.
All of the above also applies to Hack'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
This most ancient of swords has been passed down through the
leadership of the Samurai legions for hundreds of years. It
is said to grant luck to its wielder, but its main power is
terrible to behold. It has the capability to cut in half any
creature it is wielded against, instantly killing them.
